‘There was racism there’: Keir Starmer slams rioters who took to the streets following Southport child murders and warns of ‘snake oil’ offered by resurgent far-right in Europe

Keir Starmer blasted racist rioters who took to the streets after the Southport child murders today and warned they would not dictate government policy.

The Prime Minister ‘there was racism there’ as he was asked about the motives of those who took to the streets after three young girls were killed on July 29.

In a BBC interview the PM acknowledged that people have strong views on immigration, but that he was ‘not prepared to tolerate that sort of disorder’.

On Friday a far-right thug who helped set fire to a hotel filled with asylum seekers during a copycat riot in Rotherham was jailed for nine years – the longest prison sentence handed out yet.

Thomas Birley, 27, pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life after he stoked a fire in a bin by an entranceway to the Holiday Inn Express on August 4. 

Sir Keir also said he was concerned by the resurgence of the far-right in Germany and France,  saying they offered ‘the snake oil of the easy answer’.

In a wide-ranging interview he also defended cuts to the winter fuel allowance for pensioners saying he was willing to make ‘unpopular’ decisions, and accused the last Tory government of leaving the NHS ‘broken’.

In a BBC interview the PM acknowledged that people have strong views on immigration, but that he was ‘not prepared to tolerate that sort of disorder’.

The Prime Minister also said he did not think Britain was a racist country, and pointed to the ‘decent’ people who joined clean-up efforts following August’s unrest.

Hundreds of people have now been through the court system for riot-related offences, after clashing with police and attacking hotels housing asylum seekers, among other actions.

The Prime Minister told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg there was ‘racism there’ during the unrest in the early weeks of August, adding: ‘Yes I accept that across the country people have strong views about things like immigration.

‘I accept that, but I am not prepared to tolerate that sort of disorder under any circumstances.

‘Nor will I change Government policy one bit as a result of that sort of violence.’

The actions of Birley – who previously posted on social media ‘I can’t be racist because my wife has two black eyes’ – and his fellow rioters caused those inside the hotel to fear for their lives, and staff were so afraid they barricaded themselves inside a panic room, the court heard. 

The self-described ‘God’s gift to decorating’ has previous convictions including criminal damage, attacking emergency workers and racially aggravated harassment.

Birley, who had also pleaded guilty to violent disorder and possessing an offensive weapon, was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court by Judge Jeremy Richardson, who said his actions were ‘suffused with racism from beginning to end’.

Thomas Birley (pictured), 27, pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life after he stoked a fire in a bin by an entranceway to the Holiday Inn Express near Rotherham on August 4

Sir Keir said he did not think Britain was a ‘racist country’ but one of ‘decent people, tolerant people’.

‘The real Britain was the people who came out the day after in Southport. It was incredible, people came out with their trowels, with their brooms, they cleaned up, they rebuilt.

‘They are the real face of Britain and that is the Britain that I think is essential to reuniting and bringing this country back together.’

Sir Keir shared concerns about the rise of far-right political parties across Europe, pointing to recent victories by Alternative For Germany (AfD) in German regional elections, and the gains by Marine le Pen’s National Rally in the French parliament.

Birley, pictured with the red face covering, threatened officers with a police baton in ‘grotesque’ violence that left staff at the Rotherham hotel fearing for their lives, the court heard

He told the BBC: ‘I am worried about the rise of the far right.

‘I mean, we can see what is happening in Germany with the recent election, see what is happening in France and other countries.

‘I am worried about the far right because it is the snake oil of the easy answer.

‘I am convinced that the answer to it is delivery in Government.’

The hard-right AfD has insisted they should be included in state coalition talks after securing 32.8 per cent of last weekend’s vote in Thuringia in eastern Germany.

They also came a close second in neighbouring Saxony, taking home 30 per cent of the vote after the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Alice Weidel, the AfD’s national co-leader, has called on opponents not to freeze the party out, insisting ‘firewalls are undemocratic’.

And fellow co-leader Tino Chrupalla said there would be ‘no politics without the AfD’.

Bjoern Hoecke, the AfD’s top candidate in Thuringia, where the Nazi party first came to power in 1930, hailed the ‘historic result’ after securing 32.8 per cent of last weekend’s vote in German state elections

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) walked away with just 6.1 and 7.3 per cent of votes in Thuringia and Saxony respectively

Bjoern Hoecke, the AfD’s top candidate in Thuringia, where the Nazi party first came to power in 1930, hailed the ‘historic result’.

‘We need change and change will only come with the AfD,’ said Mr Hoecke, who was twice fined this year for using a banned Nazi slogan at political events.

The Prime Minister and Chancellor Rachel Reeves are also mired in the first controversy of his premiership over the decision to make the £300 handouts means-tested.

As many as 30 of his own MPs could ignore threats to strip them off the whip and refuse to back the plan in a Tory-organised vote in the Commons on Tuesday. 

One, York MP Rachael Maskell, has already warned that the decision could lead to ‘excess deaths’ this winter.

As many as 30 of his own MPs could ignore threats to strip them off the whip and refuse to back the plan in a Tory-organised vote in the Commons on Tuesday. Yesterday, Labour backbencher Rosie Duffield told Radio 4’s Today programme she intended to abstain.

And at the same time peers are set to attempt to kill off the change in the House of Lords, led by former Tory peer Baroness Altmann, who branded it ‘one of the worst decisions I have ever seen’.

And Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield, a long-term Starmer critic, suggested that it would be ‘shameful’ for MPs earning £91,346 a year to cut aid to elderly people living on about £13,000 a year. 

At the same time peers are set to attempt to kill off the change in the House of Lords, led by former Tory peer Baroness Altmann, who branded it ‘one of the worst decisions I have ever seen’.

In a key Commons vote, the Government will seek approval for plans to stop the payments to about ten million pensioners.

Ms  Reeves has justified the shock cut as necessary to combat an alleged £22 billion blackhole left by the previous Tory Government.

But the move has angered many Labour MPs amid warnings that cutting the payments, which are worth up to £300, would lead to ‘excess deaths’ this winter.

Embarrassingly for the Prime Minister, union leaders at this week’s TUC conference are also set to vote on the policy on the same day he addresses the event.

This morning he said he is prepared to be ‘unpopular’ to get things done. He said the previous Tory administration had ‘run away from difficult decisions’.

‘I’m absolutely convinced we will only deliver that change, I’m absolutely determined we will, if we do the difficult things now. I know they’re unpopular, I know they’re difficult, of course they’re tough choices,’ he said.

‘But it’s a bit like building a house: if you know your foundations are rotten, if you know you’ve got damp or cracks, you can paint over it and pretend that you’ve got a beautiful new house and within six months it all falls apart.

‘Or you can say, ”we’re going to strip it down, we’re going to fix the foundations,” and what then will happen – this is where the hope is there, what then happens is you’ve got a much better house at the end of the exercise, a country built to last, and that’s what I’m determined I’m going to bring about in the time that we’ve got in office.’

A review by eminent surgeon and independent peer Lord Darzi due to be published on Thursday is expected to highlight how children are being let down by the health service. 

It is expected to show that 175,000 children are waiting between six months and a year for treatment and 35,000 more than a year, the Sunday Times reported.

Additionally, it will show 100,000 infants waited more than six hours to be seen in accident and emergency departments last year, with waiting times for the under-twos rising 60 per cent in the past 15 years. 

It is also likely to pinpoint falling vaccination rates, and rises in ADHD medication and in eating disorder-related hospital admissions for children.

The Prime Minister claimed the health service’s problems stem from ‘the money that was taken out of the NHS, particularly in the early years of the coalition from 2010 onwards, the (Andrew) Lansley reforms, which were hopelessly misconceived. And then, of course, Covid on top of all that, which has put us in this awful position for the NHS’.